Choosing to lead a healthy life
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You’ve heard the advice, maybe even from your doctor: try to get some exercise or physical activity into your life and make healthy decisions about what you eat and how you live.
For the next four months we’ll explore how to initiate and maintain a healthy lifestyles. But in today’s run-around world, who has time? You might be surprised.
Basically what we preach today is to increase your physical activity, but what does that mean?
“Physical activity is really any activity that burns calories,” say the gurus of health, the Mayo Clinic.
Our common perception of physical activity is exercise, but exercise is considered more structured with a specific goal of improving some aspect of your fitness. Physical activity could be walking the dog, using the stairs instead of the elevator, gardening, even housework at a steady space, not stopping regularly to see what Oprah or Dr. Phil is saying.
To summarize, simply for overall health benefits, if you can participate in moderate physical activity for 30 minutes, say, four to five days a week, you’ll achieve those benefits.
Can’t put aside a half-hour? Well, you’re in luck — studies show that even 10-minute bursts of activity three times a day add up to improve your overall fitness.
Keeping active can reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes. It can build and maintain healthy bones and muscles. It can help reduce feelings of depression or anxiety. And it reduces stress.
What about eating?
So many battles have been lost with an “all or nothing” attitude, simply put that’s hard, if not impossible to attain. Instead, be realistic and systematic. Take baby steps — eat in moderation, make healthy choices, try not to eat in the evenings, scrap the high-fat, high-calorie, high-sugar drinks (up to 1,700 calories and the same fat as a half pound of bacon.)
Likewise, non-diet soft drinks can contain up to 12 teaspoons of sugar and large drinks in convenience stores and movie theaters can contain up to 30 teaspoons of sugar. Diet soft drinks can contain aspartame, which has had controversial findings on health.
You can even make healthy decisions when in you car. A recent study found that you have the same risk of collision when talking on a cellphone (hands free or hand held) as when driving legally intoxicated.
Healthy choices surround you, take the time and educate yourself to make good choices.
evan.mckay@viha.ca
—Evan McKay is a registered kinesiologist with the Active Communities Westshore program.
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